Award-winning dramaturg, theatrical agent, and teacher Morgan Jenness, whose career encompassed over a decade of work for the Public Theater and 28 years of teaching Global Theatre History as an adjunct professor at Fordham, died in Manhattan on Nov. 12 at age 72. The cause is unknown.
In an email last week to students and colleagues, May Adrales, director of the Fordham Theatre program, called Jenness’ death an “enormous loss for Fordham, for the theatre community, and for the world at large.”
“Many playwrights and directors working today can trace their beginnings in American theatre back to Morgan,” said Adrales of Jenness, who used they/them and she/her pronouns. “Their support didn’t end with encouragement; Morgan championed the work they believed in, often connecting creators with exactly the right collaborators to bring bold theatrical visions to life.”
A Powerful Mentor to Young Playwrights
Fordham graduate Morgan Gould, FCLC ‘08, credits Jenness—who Gould described as her “professor/mentor/kooky aunt/mom/theater doula”—with where she is today: a published playwright, director, and writer for television shows such as A League of Their Own.
“She treated every student as if it was only a matter of time that you were going to be a world-famous auteur. She would drag me to every kind of theater opening and introduced me to everyone as a young director. Having someone so sure that it will happen is something you never forget, and for so many of us, she was the first person to do that.” Today, Gould said, “I make my living only in the arts. Morgan was a huge part of making that possible.”
Another former mentee of Jenness’, Peter Gil-Sheridan FCLC ’98, said that countless Fordham friends reached out to talk about Jenness’ impact on their lives.
“Morgan left the world a better place than they found it,” said Gil-Sheridan, a former Fordham adjunct professor who is now assistant professor of playwriting at Vassar College. “Their passing is seismic in the theatre community. But so is their impact. I am so proud to be one of the students that was so deeply held and felt by my dear teacher. We can all honor them by continuing to demand more of our selves in our work, to see the theatre as a space for activism, cultural critique, and radical love.”
Uplifting Playwrights
Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater, said that Jenness helped redefine the role of a dramaturg, who is traditionally called upon to aid actors, directors, and playwrights in their understanding and presentation of a play.
“Morgan was one of the first generation of people who were defining what a new play dramaturg was: the midwife and support system of a playwright,” he told The New York Times, whose obituary noted Jenness’ impact on the careers of successful playwrights, including MacArthur “genius” grant winner Taylor Mac and David Adjmi, who wrote the 2024 Tony Award-winning play Stereophonic.
“Countless” artists “across all generations” felt “seen and loved” by Jenness, said Fordham’s former head of playwriting, Daniel Alexander Jones.
“In everyday conversation, she would lift the names and works of artists and advocate for them constantly. Carl Hancock Rux, Erik Ehn, Luis Alfaro, Taylor Mac, Bridget Carpenter, Marcus Gardley, Keith Josef Adkins, David Adjmi, and Alice Tuan are the first names that come to mind when I turn on the spigot of those early memories of time with Morgan. … When she taught, she carried us into the lesson plans, alongside those departed luminaries whose beacons she also tended.”
Jenness is survived by a brother, four nephews, and two nieces, one of whom, Martinique Gann, is quoted in The New York Times about Jenness’ dedication to students and the theater.
“There was no stopping my aunt for anything,” Ms. Gann recalled. “She picked me up in a cab from the airport. And right away, with my two suitcases, we drove straight to Fordham University to see a play one of her students had written.”
